Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)

Dawn Weiner is a gawky, unpopular student, nicknamed "Weinerdog" (her fellow students have even spray-painted the name across the top of her locker). Her only real friend is the even gawkier Ralphy, who is still in sixth grade and is not relishing the experience of junior high school which he sees Dawn confronting as the film begins. Even the adults in her world are impatient and annoyed with her, affording her little sympathy or even consideration. Her mother sends her to her room for daring to yell at her perfect-ballerina little sister, Missy. Her teacher gives her detention and a failing grade on a test for turning in the class bully who is trying to copy her answers.

Solondz stacks the deck against his heroine. She is not particularly bright, plays the piano badly, sings off-key, and is the object of scorn and deris

. . .
sh on the new lead singer in her brother's band, Steve Rodgers. No one else at the party appears to notice Dawn's absence until Steve makes a reference to her in the homemade song Mark has written to honor the occasion. The camera then tilts up, over the heads of the partygoers, to frame Dawn staring down from an upstairs windows, isolated once more. Throughout the rest of the film, Dawn is in every scene, and each incident is shown from her point of view. As she sits in the principal's office, for instance, only she can see the three bullies outside the window, taunting her and making faces. This technique helps to heighten her sense of isolation and keeps the narrative emphasis on her sense of wretched misery. Solondz also makes effective use of music and sound in building both Dawn's agony and her awareness of events around her. Two scenes in the film begin with her becoming slowly aware of a sound nearby and moving toward it to investigate. In the first scene, she hears a noise in the next hallway as she is leaving her locker. As she walks slowly toward it, she realizes that she is hearing the sound of the bullies in action, working over their latest target. She summons the courage to tell them to stop, but her victi
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Skid Row, Steve Rodgers, Dawn Weiner, Ralphy's Dawn's, Solondz Mark's, Weinerdog Weiner, Jersey Florida, Ralphy Dawn, Missy Mark, Todd Solondz, dawn scene, junior school, sister missy, todd solondz, final scene, music sound, dawn sitting, eighth grade, scene dawn, scenes film,
Approximate Word count = 1653
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)